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Monday, May 3, 2010

Nightmare on Elm Street Tops the Box Office

This past weekend, the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street topped the box office with $32 million. This is a lot less than the remake of Friday the 13th did a little more than a year ago. I have not seen the movie yet (I plan on seeing it this week), but I can say that I am a little disappointed that more people didn't show up.

I think the reason for this lies in a few places. The first is that a lot of people have been turned off by the constant borage of remakes that have been hitting theaters over the last few years. I believe that people would rather see a sequel than see the original updated.

The second reason is the movie has been getting bad reviews. The reviews are nowhere near as bad as Friday the 13th, but there have been some terrible reviews. But most of the reviews are saying how disappointing the movie is. Whereas Friday the 13th was just plain bad, reviewers are saying that A Nightmare on Elm Street has so much potential but doesn't use it.

The third reason lies in Freddy himself. While Jason and Michael Myers are just as big icon-wise as Freddy, they could be played by almost anybody. You get a big guy and slap a mask on him and you have yourself a Jason or a Michael Myers. Freddy is different. He is a character that has a life to him. In all of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, Freddy was played by Robert Englund, who brought a lot to the character. He IS Freddy. I'm not trying to bash Jackie Earle Haley, who is a great actor, but I don't think a lot of people are ready for a different Freddy.

That being said, A Nightmare on Elm Street should be able to turn a tidy profit and a sequel is already being planned. Hopefully I'll enjoy the movie and pray that it isn't the trainwreck that Friday the 13th was.